Michael Freeden's view on political ideologies and power: Do ideologies make essentially contested concepts decontested?

Abstract

This paper analyses Michael Freeden's thesis that essentially contested concepts become decontested in the field of ideology. Freeden claims that ideologies are the bridge between determinacy and indeterminacy of concepts. He relates decontested concepts to determinacy by introducing the concept of power, arguing that power wielders can make concepts decontested. The first part of this paper analyses the relationship between ideologies and essentially contested concepts. In the second part, the author questions the conditions of the decontested concept of power. The author argues that even if ideologies could serve as decontesting fields, the concept of power cannot make other concepts decontested.

Tekst analizira tezu Majkl Fridena da suštinski sporni pojmovi, kada su u polju ideologije, postaju izvan-sporni. Fridenova teza jeste da su ideologije most između determinisanosti značenja pojmova i njihove neodređenosti. Proces izvan-sporenja, kojim se pojmovi vraćaju u okvire determinisanosti, Friden vezuje za pojam moći, odnosno, daje argument u prilog teze da onaj ko poseduje moć ima sposobnost da učini pojmove izvan-spornim. U prvom delu rada, analizira se odnos ideologija i suštinski spornih pojmova. U drugom delu rada, autor ispituje uslove pod kojima pojam moći nije suštinski sporan. Autor daje argument da iako ideologije pružaju određene mogućnosti za izvan-spornost, sam pojam moći nema mogućnost da čini druge pojmove izvan-spornim.